


I Think I've Forgotten This Before

by TimeLadyoftheSith



Series: Prompt Generator Insanity [11]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Attempted Drink Drugging, Colormayfade Prompt Generator, Darillium, F/M, Twelve and River meet Team TARDIS, Twelve is a BAMF, Twelve's POV, first person POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 13:26:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11464524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimeLadyoftheSith/pseuds/TimeLadyoftheSith
Summary: The Doctor and River are out for a bit of dinner and dancing before she leaves for the Library.





	I Think I've Forgotten This Before

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rose_Nebula](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_Nebula/gifts).



I'm only here to make River smile. The night is nearly up, less than a week left before I'll lose her and meet her all at once. She looks stunning, or at least that's what the waitress said anyways. It's hard to tell anymore these days. This brain doesn't seem to see things the way everyone else does.

I'm not a hugging person anymore, and I haven't really bothered to think about it. River likes hugs though, sometimes, but usually she just likes to hold my arm and laugh at danger. Not that there is much danger on Darillium. The planet is mostly wasteland, with the exception of the oasis cities that are a haven for restaurants and clubs. She's wanting me to hug her now. No, dancing. River loves to dance. She really is quite good.

I've been here a few times, but always alone I think. Maybe I was with friends, but that's all so long ago everything is fuzzy. Something about this night seems vaguely familiar, like a half forgotten dream. "Doctor." River's voice is so concerned. I must be making my sulking face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." It's not a lie or the truth. It's just the statement. She doesn't buy it. Oh, smart sassy River never does.

"Let's go have a seat. I'm famished." Come to think of it, I'm a bit peckish myself.

"What do you want to eat?" I give her a twirl before we reach the edge of the dance-floor. River always looks at me with that face when I act a bit silly. I think sometimes she misses my clumsy, drunk, giraffe body. That body always made her have that look.

"Um, something succulent." She's picked up the tiny menu screen from the charging station and begun to flip through it. I should probably tell her that the strobe lights on the ceiling make her eyes look like they're filled with stars. "How about this?" She's pointing at some cheese pot with different things to stick in.

"Whatever makes you happy, dear." That's has been my goal for the last twenty-four years. Thirteen hours, forty-seven minutes, and twenty-three seconds ago she got the call, the job offer for the Library. River will leave for the rendezvous station in five days. I never told her I loved her, but then again I never seem to be able to tell anyone that. She knows though. River's always been more receptive of actions anyways.

Something strong is pushing at my mind. It's oddly familiar, and again I feel like I've been here before, in this restaurant, at this place. I just can't seem to remember it. It is getting very annoying. "Sweetie, you look a bit green, are you okay?"

No, I'm not okay. There's a Time Lord here. I can feel him, his brain. That's not possible, everyone is locked away except Missy. No, wait. It's not just a Time Lord. It's me. One of my former selves. I can almost remember, but that me seems to have buried the memory far away. "It's like I'm having amnesia and dèjà vu at the same time." Yes, River I know that sounds as ridiculous out loud as it does in my head. "It's like I've forgotten this before."

There's a perfume on the air, one I haven't smelled in over a thousand years, and a pair of laughs that are louder than the music to our right. It's so familiar, but so distant. River is looking to see what is drawing my gaze. There they are, Jack and Rose. I had nearly forgotten what they look like. Did she always clap her hands together like that and tilt her head when she laughed? Did he always have such perfectly straight and white teeth? I'd nearly forgot.

There he is now, the me with leather, big ears, and the broken heart of a soldier. River just gasped, and she's holding my hand on the table. "That's you, isn't it?" She gasps. "I recognize him from the pictures in the TARDIS."

"Yes." I whisper, turning back to face her but keeping the trio in my peripheral gaze. "That's me."

"Is that them then?" She murmurs, her eyes doing that inflating thing like Clara's used to. "Jack and Rose?" River knows all my companions. She says I talk about them in my sleep, when I bother to actually sleep that is. "I see why you kept them around."

She's got that mischievous look on her face again. The one that means her mind is racing. "Down girl." I can't help but smile at that.

Our food has arrived, but River keeps sneaking glances over at where my former self is tickling Rose and taunting her by keeping her glass out of reach. Jack is nearly crying with laughter every time she jumps to try to grab it. "She's so young." River murmurs in disbelief. "He loves her. That you. I know that smile, the sad one that doesn't quite reach your eyes."

I don't have a response to that. So I stay quiet. Leather me and Jack are off to play some game across the room, and Rose is sipping her drink and watching. A typical down day for me then. So, I focus on eating. River hasn't laughed in about twenty minutes. I can't have that, so I'll just stick this bit of bread on a poker, dip it in the red cheese, and offer it to her. There it is, the smile that reminds me so much of her mother.

A motion has caught both our eyes. A human enough looking man with blue hair and glowing skin as occupied the seat next to Rose. River's senses aren't as attuned as mine when it comes to seeing the turns and twists of possible paths, but there are two practically screaming at us now. She squeezes my hand as the man says something that makes Rose blush. Then she turns to point at me and Jack in the game area. She doesn't see the man's finger dip in Rose's glass, but we do.

I'm not sure who moved first, but I'm faster. River is two steps behind me, and I grab the man by the shoulder. Obviously my wife's bad habits have rubbed off more than necessary over the last twenty four years, because suddenly my fist has collided with the man's jaw. "How dare you?" I probably shouldn't be shouting, but I can't help it. The man is trying to mumble an excuse, but I'm frankly at the point where I don't care. My fist collides with his nose this

"What the hell is going on?" Rose screeches from somewhere to my right. I see River stepping between her and the fight.

"Who are you here with?" Level headed River, well sometimes level headed. The man is still struggling, so I shake him by the shirt for good measure.

"Rosie!" Jack comes skidding to a stop. "What's the matter are you okay?"

"Rose!" Did I really sound like that? I've never heard it from the outside before. "What's happened? Who are they?"

"I'm Melody, and this is my friend Doctor Joseph." It's a quick lie. Good girl River. "That man my friend is currently holding down tried to drug Rose here. We saw him."

"Why that no good piece of." Jack is pulling me up now, and I let him get in a good kick. I wipe the shimmering violet blood from my knuckles, and meet blue eyes with blue. His leather clad arms tighten around Rose as he makes the connection.

"Thank you!" Rose's eyes are wide, and she clings to his hand. "Both of you."

"You should probably get her home." I nod to Rose and hold my arm at to River. "She looks like she could use a cup of tea."

"And a good cuddle." I try not to shoot River an attack eyebrow scowl when she says that.

"I'll meet you back at the TARDIS, Doc." Jack is dragging the scumball up from the floor. "I'm just gonna take the garbage out."

"Have a safe evening." I turn and let River guide me away, but not before a thread of thought brushes my brain.

_How long do we have?_

I let him hear my mental chuckle.

 _Spoilers_.

"Dance with me, Sweetie." River pulls me back at to the dance floor. I oblige her, because her time is so short. I never told Rose, but maybe when River beckons me to bed later I can finally say it to her. For now, I'll pull her close and savor the moment. There are stars in her eyes again, I want to keep them there for just a little while longer. 

 


End file.
